Comments on: Beware of These Tricky Words on Essay Exams http://studenthacks.org/2007/11/21/essay-questions/ Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:12:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Rebecca http://studenthacks.org/2007/11/21/essay-questions/#comment-413 Rebecca Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:36:51 +0000 http://studenthacks.org/2007/11/21/essay-questions/#comment-413 "Criticize - Criticism not only means giving your opinion, but it also means discussing and examining what you know about it." Criticize is rarely about your "opinion". You are to look at the topic and, more specifically, the argument it is making. You are then to take that argument apart and explain why it doesn't work. It is the opposite of "Prove" (see above); your job is to skewer someone else's proof and show why it doesn't hold up. “Criticize - Criticism not only means giving your opinion, but it also means discussing and examining what you know about it.”

Criticize is rarely about your “opinion”. You are to look at the topic and, more specifically, the argument it is making. You are then to take that argument apart and explain why it doesn’t work. It is the opposite of “Prove” (see above); your job is to skewer someone else’s proof and show why it doesn’t hold up.

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